The Dragon, the Eagle, and the Private Sector: Public-Private Collaboration in China and the United States

Introduced by Lawrence H. Summers (President Emeritus, Harvard University), Richard Zeckhauser, Jack Donahue and Karen Eggleston discuss their recently published book, The Dragon, the Eagle, and the Private Sector: Public-Private Collaboration in China and the United States with Professor Yijia Jing of Fudan University, China's leading expert on public-private relationships will also participate. The governments of China and the United States - despite profound differences in history, culture, economic structure, and political ideology - both engage the private sector in the pursuit of public value. This book employs the term collaborative governance to describe relationships where neither the public nor private party is fully in control, arguing that such shared discretion is needed to deliver value to citizens. This concept is exemplified across a wide range of policy arenas, such as constructing high speed rail, hosting the Olympics, building human capital, and managing the healthcare system. This book will help decision-makers apply the principles of collaborative governance to effectively serve the public, and will enable China and the United States to learn from each other's experiences. It will empower public decision-makers to more wisely engage the private sector. The book's overarching conclusion is that transparency is the key to the legitimate growth of collaborative governance.

"It has become increasingly clear over the last few years that in tackling a country’s problems, what matters most is the quality of government rather than the quantity. This book provides a key to understanding how to achieve that quality-public-private collaboration, done right. Delving deep into two very different societies, the US and China, the authors provide lessons that illuminate and should inform scholars and policymakers alike." -- Fareed Zakaria

"This important book addresses how the two most important countries, the U.S. and China, address what may be their most important question: How can their public and private sectors cooperate most effectively with each other to create value. This is the rare book that is both analytic and a pleasure to read. It makes a lasting impression. It deserves a very wide readership among all those concerned about the future of the global economy." -- Lawrence H Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University

"Eggleston, Donahue, and Zeckhauser offer an authoritative and intriguing account of why and how collaborative governance, a key modern instrument that engages public and private actors for comparative advantages in coping with complex public affairs, has been widely and deeply practiced in two vastly different countries, China and the US. An essential reading with profound academic inspirations and rich empirical inquiries." -- Yijia Jing, Fudan University.